Map: Glimpsing the Food Space

“As a family, we have traveled far and accumulated much history. Our holiday spreads are mixtures of traditions and stories. Our meatball soup hails from Iran, our haroset from Germany, we add to it ourselves - puns like Peas for world peace, dates for lots of dates, peaches for impeachment - evolving (living?).

Steeped in history and the stories we tell, our constructed and established histories become more and more mythical. My grandmother, Savta Bracha, is the most mythical of them all.

One of the eleven.”

These maps trace vectors of movement. They represent the beginnings (and ends) of stories. These are established histories, reinforced by dates, names, destinations, and routes — an established history. Simultaneously, they are also mythical, fantastical, and well-worn stories — a constructed history. They serve as the foundation to family lore, acting as origin myths and providing a sense of a unified trajectory aligned with global historical events.

This is also the foundation of a food space. A foundation of tribal membership expressed through culinary preferences, associations, and stories.